Net browsers: can we use them for access control?

WOULDN'T IT BE A GOOD IDEA if the security industry could write access control software to run on Internet browsers? Granted it's a brilliant theory, but what's the catch? If we in the security business know anything for certain it's that the perception of the Internet as a secure environment is anything but.

Every time I type in my credit card number on a web site, I can't help but imagine teams of hackers in baggy jeans and baseball caps, high on Pepsi Max, conspiring to tap into my bank account.

The benefits of Internet-wide security administration are considerable, but until the risks outweigh them firewalls will stay in place. One big potential benefit of using browsers in security application software is that they don't need local installation. Any users can log-in from any machine, wherever they are on the network.

Bandwidth capacity on existing networks can be a real issue, since those systems running software locally may eat up large slices of it. That would give the security manager a real headache.

That said, browsers need little bandwidth as all the processing work is completed on the network server. Improved speed and reliability go hand-in-hand with lean bandwidths. A particular truism as systems become ever larger and integrated, and managers require different front ends for different users.

By way of an example, a security guard may need a simple, graphical front end, maybe even a touch screen with large buttons offering simple instructions. For his or her part, the manager could only be given control of the department. There would be a separate interface for photo ID card production and so on. The clever bit – the software – sits on a server on a WAN (Wide Area Network) or LAN (Local Area Network) set-up.

Is all this technically possible? Security system front ends that mimic an Internet browser are already with us, of course. However, those 'in the know' tell me that to write a fully-functional access control system that may be administered through any old Internet browser is just not possible – for the time being, at least.

Nonetheless, there's no good reason why you couldn't interrogate a database, run a report or call up system settings. Any 'read-only' activity, in fact, must be construed as fair game.